Mill Creek Entertainment Readies Burt Reynolds And Neil Simon DVD Memorial Collections For Release On Nov. 13

Mill Creek Entertainment announced this past week that the film careers of both Burt Reynolds and playwright Neil Simon will be celebrated on Nov. 13 with the release of multi-title DVD collections that are being priced for fans to own.

The 4 Movie: Burt Reynolds Collection includes director Buzz Kulik’s 1973 detective thriller, Shamus, which teamed Reynolds with Dyan Cannon.   Deliverance had been a theatrical smash the previous year and Shamus was his first starring role in the wake of that film … his famous Cosmopolitan centerfold was also in 1972, so when Shamus opened in later January of 1973 Burt Reynolds was not only an established action star, but a national sex symbol as well!

Next in this four-film collection from Mill Creek Entertainment is director Blake Edwards’ 1983 romantic comedy, The Man Who Loved Women, which saw Burt co-starring with Julie Andrews, Kim Basinger, Marilu Henner, Denise Crosby and Cynthia Sikes.

Next is director Ted Kotcheff’s 1988 film adaptation of the Ben Hecht stage play, The Front Page, which was changed from newspaper reporting to television and titled Switching Channels.    Reynolds co-stars with Kathleen Turner, Ned Betty (Deliverance) and Christopher Reeve, who had completed his four Superman films and was looking for more diverse material.

And last, but not least, is the 1989 thriller from director Michael Crichton, Physical Evidence, which teamed Reynolds once again with his Deliverance co-star, Ned Betty … on the femme fatale side, Physical Evidence includes both Theresa Russell and Kay Lenz.

The 4 Movie: Burt Reynolds Collection is priced at just $14.98 (and that’s before discounts at retail).   This is a nice tribute collection and attractively priced!

On Nov. 13, Mill Creek Entertainment will also be celebrating the life and career of Neil Simon with the eight-film collection titled The Playwright Collection: Neil Simon Comedies.   You read that right, EIGHT films are in this collection, which carries an SRP of just $19.98.

Included in the mix are two from director Robert Moore.  The first is his summer of 1978 mystery comedy, The Cheap Detective, which toplines Peter Falk, who is joined by an all-star cast that includes Ann-Margret, Eileen Brennan, Sid Caesar, Stockard Channing, Dom DeLuise, Madeline Kahn and Marsha Mason, and the second is the Christmas-season of 1979 romantic comedy, Chapter Two, which saw James Caan and Marsha Mason (nominated for Best Supporting Actress) co-starring, plus Valerie Harper and Joseph Bologna.

It was no surprise that Marsha Mason was back again — she was married to Neil Simon during this period — with director Glenn Jordan’s 1981 film adaptation of Simon’s play, The Gingerbread Lady, which was titled for the screen as Only When I Laugh.   Kristy McNichol, James Coco and Joan Hackett are her co-stars … Mason was nominated Best Actress and both Coco and Hackett received Supporting Oscar nominations.

Next in chronological order is the 1985 music-themed romantic comedy, The Slugger’s Wife, starring Michael O’Keefe and Rebecca De Mornay (her performance as Lana in Risky Business — opposite Tom Cruise — launched her film career).   This is followed by director Martha Coolidge’s 1993 film adaptation of Simon’s play of the same name, Lost in Yonkers … teaming Richard Dreyfuss with Mercedes Ruehl, with David Stratharin and Irene Worth co-starring.

Rounding out the eight-film collection are three films from 1996 — Jake’s Women (with Alan Alda and Anne Archer), London Suite (Kelsey Grammer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Madeline Kahn) and the up-dated version of The Sunshine Boys with Woody Allen and Peter Falk, plus Michael McKean, Live Schreiber, Edie Falco and Sarah Jessica Parker.